Stories of Pride: Utah High School Won't Stand For Homophobia

A video posted to Snapchat last week shows an unidentified person setting fire to an LGBTQ Pride flag as onlookers laugh, and a voice is heard saying:

“All gays die.”

And now two football players at Kearns High School in Salt Lake City—one who posted the original video and one who reposted it—have been suspended indefinitely from the team.

Kearns High School football Coach Matt Rickards says the incident has “embarrassed and humiliated” him and his team:

“We have one rule in our program, and that is not to embarrass yourself, your family or your team. That rule was broken. There’s got to be consequences for that. Our number one goal is to build men of character, integrity, be responsible, have empathy for others and serve the community for good. That’s our number one objective.”

I will say I was stunned to hear this coming out of Utah, which isn’t the most LGBTQ-friendly place in America; and I was equally stunned that a football coach would react the way Rickards did. But if you don’t punish the hate now, it will only fester and grow, and maybe cutting these two young men from the team will send a message that homophobia is unnacceptbble.

The Granite School District is investigating the incident and says it’s possible that both the student who posted the video and the one who reposted it could face community service or suspension from the school.

Good on the school, good on the district, and especially good on Coach Rickards for trying to make decent human beings out of his players. I imagine his players, those who posted the video and those who may have watched, feel horrible that they have disappointed their coach.

Not to mention their school and their families.

LGBTQ Nation